


Burt Macklin, FBI

by ryeloza



Series: Burt Macklin, FBI [1]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 07:58:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5860630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryeloza/pseuds/ryeloza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Andy Dwyer gets cast in the role that changes his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burt Macklin, FBI

**Author's Note:**

> All of my knowledge about movie production comes from what I've seen on TV and in movies. Please forgive any inaccuracies or absurdities that I may have included for the sake of plot and character.

_Andy – Tom called. You got the part. Will call again later with details._

_PS: You need to get a new phone. I'm not your answering service._

"No way!"

Andy looks around the room, half-certain that Burly is going to jump out laughing, but the apartment remains suspiciously quiet. His roommate must be out, and along with him, their shared cell phone.

(Burly claims it's his cell phone, but since Andy tried to answer his own phone in the shower and broke it, he's been giving out Burly's number as his own, which certain feels like sharing.)

He wonders which part he got. Probably the toothpaste commercial. That casting lady had really liked when he improvised karate chopping the toothpaste tube. In celebration, he takes another practice swing, smacking his arm into the loaf of bread on the counter and then kicking out his leg behind him and upending the kitchen table. Burly's laptop clatters to the floor and Andy winces.

"Whoops."

*********

It turns out that it wasn't the toothpaste commercial.

("Are you kidding me?" Tom had snorted when Andy asked. "I heard about that audition from like ten other people. It's the joke of the year. You gotta stop doing stuff like that, man.")

It's better than the toothpaste commercial.

"Burt Macklin," Andy tells Burly as he hangs up and passes the phone back.

"Which one is that?" asks Burly. "The man who thinks he's a dog?"

"No. The FBI agent. The rogue agent with a troubled past."

Burly blinks at him. "The lead in that action flick?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Holy shit!"

"I know!"

Andy holds out his hand for a high five, and Burly slowly responds. He looks a little dazed, which Andy assumes is natural when your best friend gets awesome news.

"Congrats, man," says Burly, clapping Andy on the back and shaking his head. "That's amazing."

*********

Andy meets his costar on a Wednesday right before their first table read.

She's an unknown too, according to Tom. "Two unknown leads, a director who’s only done a few low budget short films, practically no funding from the studio – but at least it's a job, Andy." Apparently the director, Leslie, likes to take chances on unknown actors. Tom says it like it's a bad thing, but Andy figures he wouldn't have the job otherwise.

Plus Leslie seems cool. She apparently fought tooth and nail to get the movie off the ground, and is super determined to see it succeed. Just about all of the crew are people she's worked with before, and they don't seem to doubt she can do it.

The girl playing Janet – Burt's adversary and love interest (so badass) – is named April. She's slouched in her chair, feet up on the table when Ann, the casting director, introduces them. She looks Andy up and down when they're introduced, but doesn't say anything, just pops her gum loudly. Andy grins and sits down next to her.

Everyone else filters in slowly, and there's lots of hand shaking and introductions until finally Leslie enters the room and everyone gets real quiet. A skinny guy in plaid slinks in behind her, and Leslie scowls at him before addressing the group.

"Welcome, everyone, to our first table read for _Burt Macklin, FBI_."

The table erupts in cheers, except for April, who continues to look bored, and the guy in plaid, who looks constipated.

"I'm Leslie Knope, the director," says Leslie when they've quieted down. "And you all know beautiful Ann Perkins."

Ann nods from where she stands behind the camera they're using to record the read. Leslie beams at her, and then reluctantly turns to the man in plaid, her expression turning stormy.

"This is Ben. He's in charge of the budget."

Ben opens his mouth like he's going to speak, but Leslie plows on before he can.

"So we'll have everyone go around the room and introduce themselves and say their role, and then we'll get started."

*********

The table read is not going well. Andy's never been that good at reading out loud, and he's only really familiar with the scenes he had to memorize for the audition. Tom always tells him not to sweat it because he's a natural once he has it memorized, but he gets the feeling that it might be a bigger deal than Tom made it seem.

Three hours in, Ben dragged Leslie out into the hall, and now they're shouting at each other.

The other actors at the table are chatting quietly and periodically glaring at Andy.

He wonders if they're going to fire him on the first day.

It's not like it hasn't happened before, but it would really suck. Burly just made him buy a new cell phone.

"Is this your first acting job?" April asks quietly. She isn't looking at him. Instead, she's methodically rolling her gum wrappers into little balls and lining them up along the edge of the table.

"Yeah," says Andy. "Do you think they're going to fire me?"

April shrugs. "Maybe. Although Leslie hired you, and she's like blindly stubborn and loyal."

"Yeah?"

"Well that and I'm pretty sure she hates that Ben guy, and he definitely wants to fire you. So she'll probably fight to keep you just to spite him."

Andy glances out the window where Leslie and Ben are still fighting. Ann is standing between them, and it looks like she's trying to referee, but it's not going well.

He wonders if they're really fighting about him.

"Have you worked with Leslie before?" he asks.

"A couple times," says April blandly. "Mostly small stuff in a few of her short films."

She plucks the straw from her Coke and stuffs one of her crushed gum wrappers in the end. Andy laughs as she takes aim and fires right at Mark Brendanawicz's head. He's playing Andy's straight-laced partner, Rod, and he's been primarily responsible for the glares in Andy's direction. Now, though, he aims one straight at April who merely shoots another projectile right between his eyes.

Under the table, she holds out her hand, and Andy slyly high fives her.

"Andy."

He jerks his head up at the sound of his name. Ann's standing there, and she doesn't look happy.

"Leslie wants to talk to you for a second."

Everyone's eyes are on him as he stands up and follows Ann out of the room. Through the window, he takes one last glance at April, pretty sure he'll never see her again.

She shoots another wrapper at Mark's head.

He meets Leslie in a little office down the hall. That Ben guy is nowhere in sight, but Leslie doesn't look happy. Ann closes the door behind him, and Andy takes a seat across from Leslie.

"So," says Leslie, "we have a little bit of a problem." She stares at him for a beat, but Andy doesn't say anything. He's too busy waiting for the ax to fall. "What's going on?" she asks. "At the audition, you were amazing."

Andy shrugs. "I had those audition scenes in advance. Memorized them. This is my first time with the full script."

It's probably a pretty lame excuse, he thinks. No one else in the room had the same problem. Although that's nothing different than it was when he had to read out loud in front of his class in elementary school.

"Ben's worried," Leslie says, her nose scrunching as she mentions Ben's name. "He thinks we're going to waste weeks and money with you, only to have to recast you later. But I don't want to let you go. He wasn't at your audition. He didn't see what Ann and I did." She frowns. "The problem is, though, that I don't want to get weeks into this and realize he's right."

"Yeah, I get it," says Andy. He stands. "I can see myself out."

"Andy," Leslie cuts in before he can take a step. "I just need to know – do you think you can do this? If you can promise me that you can memorize the whole script, can perform at the level you did at the audition, and quickly, I'll believe you. I don't want to lose you. Not if I don't have to."

"I can do it," he promises. It's not an empty promise, a gut reaction to keep this job. He knows he can do this.

Leslie studies him for a moment, and then smiles brightly. "That's what I thought," she says.

*********

Leslie makes them finish the table read, and then they do it again. Andy does a little better the second time, slightly more familiar with the lines. They don't finish until late into the evening, but that night at home, Andy stays up late running lines with Burly and committing as much as he can to memory.

Like Tom said – once he knows the line, he's a natural.

The next day at work, he's much improved.

Leslie beams at him.

*********

Weeks into shooting, he finally feels at home at the job. He knows the script backwards and forwards. Shooting is going well. Leslie and Ben continue to fight about the budget, but even that feels comfortable now.

He and April have become best friends on set.

She's good at her job. Really good. The second she steps on set, she's in character, and she doesn't break no matter what's going on around her. It's kind of spooky sometimes, especially since the character she's playing can best be described as intense and scheming.

In their down time, they hang out in his trailer running lines and coming up with ways to prank Brendanawicz. He's not a bad guy, but since that first day, he's become an easy and satisfying target. April, especially, seems to delight in torturing him.

(They try to prank Ben once too, but it goes horribly. For weeks after, Ben seems to twitch whenever he sees them.)

Andy's never had so much fun at a job. Not that he has a ton of jobs to compare this one to.

It isn't until the day before their first kiss scene that things get weird.

They're in his trailer, where they usually hang out. April's sitting on the floor, her hair up in curlers to prep for her scene later today, and she's tossing M&Ms to him as he tries to catch them in his mouth.

"You're terrible at this," she says, throwing a full handful at him and laughing. He manages to catch a couple in his mouth, but the rest bounce off his head to the floor.

"You can't throw," he protests, and April responds by chucking the entire bag at his head.

They smile at each other as the candies spill out over the floor, and Andy absently plucks a few off his chest and pops them into his mouth. It all feels normal, until April says, "So you nervous about tomorrow?"

"Nervous about what?" he asks.

"You know," she says. "Big scene. Kissing."

"Oh yeah."

April looks at him expectantly, and Andy isn't sure what to say. He's been trying not to think about it. Or at least he's been trying not to think about the fact that it's April. Sitting with her talking about it makes it a lot harder to ignore.

When he doesn't say anything, April drops her gaze and flicks one of the M&Ms across the floor with her finger. "We should get a drink after work," she says off-handedly. "Ease the tension for tomorrow."

"Definitely," he agrees, popping another candy into his mouth and grinning at her. "You wanna ask Donna and Craig too?"

April shrugs. "I dunno. I guess if you want."

"Okay."

*********

Andy mentions it to Donna when he's in the makeup chair later. She rolls her eyes and declines.

"Oh Andy," she sighs. "You're fine but you're simple."

*********

They go to a bar not far from the studio. Leslie's there with Ben, tucked back at a table in the far corner. They're leaning across the table toward one another having what looks like a heated discussion, a far cry from their usual shouting matches. Andy would chalk it up to being in public, but that's never stopped them before.

He's about to call out when April grips his wrist and deliberately tugs him away from Leslie and Ben toward the bar.

It's crowded, but they squeeze in, obtrusively staking a claim in midst a group of dudes in suits that are all texting. She buys the first round of drinks without questioning it, and Andy wonders how sneakily he can check his wallet to see if he can afford to return the favor. He's not exactly rolling in the big bucks working on a low budget action flick.

When they get their beers, April raises hers toward him in a silent toast, but Andy can't help but add, "To your first big movie. The first of many."

April blushes, and clinks the neck of her bottle against his.

*********

An hour later, they're three drinks in each and the bar is much more crowded. April is still steady on her feet, eyes clear and focused, but she's talking more than usual, uninhibited by the atmosphere or the alcohol or some combination of the two.

"Did you come out here to be an actor?" she asks.

"Nope." He sets his beer down and unzips the FBI jacket he's taken to wearing off set to proudly reveal the t-shirt underneath.

"Mouse Rat?"

"My band," he says. "We came out hoping to get a record deal. When I met Tom, I didn't know he was an acting agent. My first audition, I thought I was performing for a label producer. I was not."

April does that thing where she almost smiles. "And now you're Burt Macklin."

"Yep. It's awesome. Almost as awesome as being a rock star." He stuffs handful of nuts into his mouth, chomping noisily. "What about you?" he mumbles around the mouthful of food. "You wanted to be an actress?"

April shrugs. "I guess. Better than being myself."

"No way! You're awesomesauce!"

This time she does smile; it's so slight, it's almost imperceptible, and she almost immediately covers it by tilting her head so her hair falls in her face. But he sees it.

It's a nice feeling. Being the one to make her smile.

Someone behind her presses too close, jostling her forward, and Andy catches her awkwardly by the elbow to still her movement. He ducks in toward her, shouting to be heard over the noise of the crowd. "You wanna get out of here?"

She nods. "Yeah."

*********

Outside, she's quieter. They walk side-by-side, deliberately turning down a side street that's much less busy than the bustling intersection near the bar. It feels somewhat awkward, which is something Andy's never said about his interactions with April. He's not sure why. It felt like a good way to break the tension over tomorrow when April suggested it, but now the anticipation feels more acute. He sticks his hands into the pockets of his jacket and glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

"So," he says.

"So."

"Big day tomorrow. You ready?"

April shrugs. Her hands are stuffed into the pocket of her sweatshirt, the hood pulled up over her head; it makes her look younger than the elaborate costumes and makeup he's used to seeing her in. Slowly, she stops walking, and Andy turns to face her.

"We could practice, maybe," she says. "Make it less awkward."

"Yeah?"

She shrugs again. "If you want."

Andy does. Really, really does, if he's being honest. But standing there on the sidewalk staring down into April's eyes, it's not quite as easy to distinguish his professional self from the man who's started thinking of his colleague in a less-than-professional way.

April seems to take his silence as agreement. Before he can make up his mind, her eyes flicker and she changes from April to Janet, the same way he's seen her perform countless times in the past few weeks.

"I knew you'd find me."

He stares at her, still unsure, but she just stares back, never breaking character. He swallows nervously, but reluctantly throws himself into character. "I told you I wouldn't stop looking, Janet. There's no place you can hide that the law won't catch you."

"The law, maybe. But not you, Macklin." She reaches out, hand fisting around his t-shirt, and she pulls him closer. Her voice drops to a whisper. "I'm going to walk out this door, and you'll just watch me leave."

"You're wrong."

"Am I?"

She pauses, eyes flickering from his eyes to his lips, and Andy doesn't hesitate. His arms wrap around her lower back, drawing her closer, and his lips find hers in a bruising kiss. She goes toe-to-toe with him, just as fierce and demanding, and when they part, they're both panting.

"Goodbye, Burt," she whispers.

Andy knows what comes next. Has had the scene memorized for weeks. Burt lets her go and watches her walk out of the door, just like she said.

But April doesn't pull back. And Andy doesn't move his hands.

"April," he says. His thumb brushes in a circle against her spine, and April's hand slides from his neck up into his hair. Almost imperceptibly, she nods.

This time, there's no scene, no excuse.

Just Andy and April.


End file.
